She's so lovely - Così carina

I found my initial disturbance of these characters living way too close to the gutter, amazingly moved to an affection and an eyeopening awareness. The deep emotional pains of these characters are obvious, and yet presented in such a tender way, one can bear and become intrigued to look into this side of life and be moved, touched and understand. The result an enriching trip.

Sean Penn's scenes are always amazing, but there are at least 3 that make the movie worth seeing alone. One scene where he speaks for the first time to his unknown 9year old daughter, one where he speaks of love being SO difficult and one when he has been confined to a straight jacket. This character's portrayal is so beautiful and unforgettable.

John Travota too portrays an unforgettable character and performance.

I cant help wondering what was the childhood to produce these people as they are, a young 9year gives a hint.

Some of the people who "review" flicks here continually amaze me with their complete lack of film knowledge.

When I heard an interview with the always-extraordinary Sean Penn, in which he said he was upset that so few people had seen what he considers to be his best work: this film and the excellent "At Close Range," I knew that I had to catch this.

Then, finding that it was based on an unproduced John Cassavetes script, I was all the more eager.

That final statement should scare off anyone who expected a happy, romantic Hollywood film, as they clearly haven't seen any of the late writer/director's stark, realistic films. Cassavetes' work relied heavily on tortured, unlikable or unredeemable characters who can act their brains out [quite often portrayed by his wife/widow, Gena Rowlands].

We're talking serious fare, folks ~ required viewing such as "Husbands," "Woman Under The Influence," "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" and "Gloria" [the brilliant Rowlands original, not the adequate Sharon Stone remake].

Now comes his former B-movie star & son, Nick, who dusts off papa's script and enlists the type of actors who are eminently qualified to play a group of true undesirables: Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn, James Gandolfini, Harry Dean Stanton, Debi Mazar and the newly-retalented John Travolta, who appears in the last reel.

Even Mom [Rowlands, of course] gets a small but important role.

And the adorable Kelsey Mulrooney, playing Penn & Penn's nine-year-old daughter is terrific without stooping to precociousness.

Is this a brutally honest film? Yep. Is it vulgar in nearly every way? Of course. Do the leading characters have any chance of redemption, moral or otherwise? Not likely.

Do I care?

Let's just say that there's more passionate acting in "She's So Lovely" than was evident in nearly every other 1997 film.

And that's certainly good enough for me.

So there.

I saw this film earlier in the year expecting some ordinary performances but most of all to be really twisted thanks to Nick Cassavetes. I'll say this, the movie is a little twisted but the acting was anything but ordinary.

Robin Wright Penn plays off her character, Maureen and her real life husband so well that it effects her performance of a mobster's poor girlfriend.

James Gandolfini is great as a sleazy, creepy neighbour Kiefer, another great portrayal from James even though he isn't that big of a character. He's done so many different films but it always seems to be him who sparks up the film. He was great as the father in "The Mighty" he was fantastic as the gay hitman the disappointing "The Mexican", as the tough Bear in "Get Shorty" and i'm sure he's going to be magnificant in the next Coens movie / musical. He never seizes to amaze me.

But the real gem here is Sean Penn as mobster Eddie. I know he won Best Actor at a festival, to which i'm not so sure but he shines in this movie. His love for Maureen is really sweet as he'd do anything for her, whatever it takes. There's this one scene with Sean and Robin where Sean displays some incredible acting ability. I haven't seen "I Am Sam" yet but i heard that it isn't that great of a movie but he must have done something right to earn an Oscar Nomination. I only hope he doesn't get washed up because it really would be a pity.

Travolta played a character simular to the evil Sean Archer in "Face / Off" but times 10 in this. He plays Joey but in order to explain his character would spoil this movie. Even though he only appears for the last 20 or so minutes, you have to remember this was the kid "Saturday Night Fever" and Danny Zuko from "Grease". He remains one of a kind and shows that he can pull off playing a bastard good too.

The story is not the greatest but it is a sweet movie that has violent turns. The screenplay has it's moments but it's the actors who make the movie. To simply put it... It's So Lovely!

I suppose that the point of this movie is that love, and people in love, are not necessarily very "proper" and jasmine-smelling. Fine, I agree, but by the time the movie ended I was not sure it was love this movie was about. Quinn and Mrs. Quinn amply deserve each other that there was hardly any point in making a long movie to demonstrate that. The pity is, that the movie was well done, well directed, with some nice touches; the actors were also good, but the script, or rather, the characters are a mess. In any case you might even tolerate the failures of script and characters but it is impossible to get past the inanity of the protagonist Mrs. Quinn: she just doesn't make sense. In the second part of the movie Mrs. Quinn is as messed-up as in the first part, only ten years, a new marriage, three children and a change in her social standing are supposed to have happened in between; nevertheless, only her clothes and her makeup have changed. How can that be? I am not the same as ten years ago, and not so many things have happened to me. Also, she's supposed to be the pivot of the whole conflict, but she's not solid enough to justify that.

Nick follows in the footsteps of his old man, John Cassavetes, who supplied the screenplay and you can tell because the down and out characters walk about with cigarette in one hand and a glass of booze in the other. This is a very simple tale of manic love told with care.